


Button Covers

by twowritehands



Category: Space Force (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:21:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24547573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twowritehands/pseuds/twowritehands
Summary: “Are you still mad about the button thing? How many times do I have to apologize for that?”That premature launch happened a little differently.
Relationships: Dr. Adrian Mallory/General Mark Naird
Comments: 8
Kudos: 68





	Button Covers

**Author's Note:**

> Had so much fun watching this show, had to stop at Ep 3 to write this silliness LOL

Mark marched at a smooth steady clip to the control room. This late in the evening, all the scientists had gone home. It made the perfect time for Mark to soak it in, to visualize success and to perhaps get a reminder of why he took on this colossal endeavor. Glory. A place in history. A true and lasting impact for the greater good of his fine country...

He stood in front of the big screen, admiring the rocket on the launch pad and the way the sun set behind it. Beautiful.

"General Naird," a soft voice cut into his thoughts as someone else entered the control room.

Dr. Mallory. As usual in his bold array of color. Today the older man had willingly chosen to wear a green bowtie with a red checkered shirt and a soft brown vest under his lab coat.

"Is there something I can help you with?" His slow, calm elocution of each word gave Mark plenty of time to come up with his excuse for being here this late. Somehow his true motivation felt a little too religious in nature for sharing. No way would he try to explain it. Especially to a scientist who no doubt scoffed at the notion of gods and miracles.

"Progress report, Mallory." he spun on his heel back to face the rocket on the screen.

"I have emailed you a detailed report, as usual, General."

Mark groaned and pinched his nose. "And I'll review it closely tomorrow. But for now just give me a run down."

The doctor chuckled. "A report with less scientific jargon, you mean."

Mark tensed and used his best professional threat voice. "You are testing my limits, doctor."

"Thankfully, as a doctor and not one of your mindless oafs, I am not cowed by a sense of devotion to you simply because you have 4 pretty pins on your shoulder. Your limits are of little consequence to me."

Mark actually turned with a frown at the man and raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's your response? What's with the snark, doc? I just want a goddamned run down. Is that so much to ask?"

"So far everything is on track. In a week's time she'll be ready for launch."

Mark exhaled. Good. Very good. "Good."

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Mallory asked. "I, too, often watch the sun set behind her."

Suddenly feeling exposed and on the spot, Mark cleared his throat and tried for casual. "It is... Truly something."

Mallory smiled. Mark felt a spark of camaraderie. Was it possible that Dr. Cold Hard facts had a heart?

"We're so lucky, you know," Mark whispered. "To be a part of this. You must feel it."

"I do. From time to time.... Whenever I do not let myself dwell on how that rocket is the first step towards militarized space and the total breakdown of everything I stand for."

"OK, that's it. Why did you take this job if you don't even believe in what we're doing?"

"Because nothing terrifies me more," he practically hissed, moving into Mark's face, "than the idea of a room full of career soldiers planning how best to ruin the last frontier we have left! I'm here as a voice of reason against the bloodthirsty plans of warmongers like you."

"That's what you tell yourself, but the reality is you can't resist the call to space and you'll get there by whatever means necessary."

"How dare you?"

"You can't lie to me, Mallory. I know your type. Science first. Science is God. You will do anything for the advancement of science. Well, I don't have a problem with it except for when a scientist starts acting all high and mighty like everything he has--EVERYTHING HE HAS--was not built on war. If not for the World Wars during which we had to advance beyond the enemy or die, we wouldn't have airplanes or computers. If not for the cold war we wouldn't have gone to the moon. Without war, you wouldn't have 90 percent of the tech that you need to get your jollies off!"

Mallory stepped back, grinning. "Jollies? Get my jollies off? Did you just say that?"

"I did, and I meant it." Mark snapped. Mallory laughed and then Mark laughed. Another spark of coamaraderie.

Mallory sighed and his voice was pitched with something of an apology. "I am aware of the bloody history of science. But like many of my peers, we hope for a future where science grows for the sake of science. Not for the purposes of squashing the enemy."

"And I would love nothing more than for my daughter to grow up in such a perfect world," Mark said softly. "But the blistering truth is that the world isn't full of your colleagues. There are nations that want nothing more than world domination of one singular mindset of outdated thought. So you will excuse me, doctor, if I believe that what my child learns in a book is less important than her right to learn it. Because if she ever lost the freedom to learn and to explore and to ask questions, then you and your peers will have lost recruits, and with them every chance of advancing simply for the sake of advancing."

Mallory frowned at him. "That was rather well reasoned. I suppose I do take very much of my life for granted."

Mark inclined his head, "I'm glad to have made an impression on you."

"Don't think you've won. Democracy is vital but America fights for more than democracy and you know it. Untold billions and human lives are spent every day toward the goal of total supremacy. Total control of world economy, world resources, world religion. That's the actual motive of Space Force. Total supremacy of the moon."

"You are a bitter old bastard."

"I am a realist."

"You are a buzz kill, is what you are."

"I am a cynic."

"Buzz kill," Mark said over Mallory's retort. Mallory began to open his mouth and Mark snapped, "Buzz kill."

Mallory began again and Mark shouted, "Buuuuzzzzzz kill!"

Mallory laughed and then Mark laughed. Camaraderie flickered and sparked all around them. When Mallory looked at Mark, his eyes were alight. Mark knew that light, what it meant. It called to something deep in him. Something untouched since his wife went to prison. Something that promised a release so powerful he couldn't resist.

"You are a romantic idiot," Mallory said. "As blind to reality as a troglodyte in a cave."

Mark made no reply to the words, but instead replied to the eyes. He moved in, and kissed the doctor right on the mouth. And without hesitation, Mallory kissed back. 

It may have been twenty years, but Mark used to kiss men as often as he kissed women. Somehow he'd forgotten the feel of whiskers brushing his face. He liked it. A lot.

He clutched Mallory to him and Mallory held on right back and it was good. Too good. He hadn't been touched since he and his wife said their goodbyes after the hearing. Literally, no one had touched him since. Not even a hug from his daughter. So Mallory bowing into him and invading his mouth with his coffee tongue was sheer relief.

During the kiss, he picked Mallory up and sat him on the nearest surface. And that was when it all screeched to an unholy stop.

An alarm sounded, sending them both jumping out of their skins and then a voice began a count down and--in total horror, they both realized what had happened.

Mark had set the man on the launch button. The fucking uncovered launch button. Because a thousand dollars was too much to spend on a button cover.

The screen lit up with the glowing ramparts of the rocket's premature blast off. Mark watched in utter despair. Mallory dropped his face in his hands.

"Did we just..."

"Yes. 1.8 billion dollars for a kiss."

"Fuck." Mark breathed.

It took some doing but they managed to cover up how it happened. The official story was that Mark came by the control room for an update and while he and Mallory spoke of the mission, the General leaned back and put his boots on the desk, accidentally hitting the button. It was stupid but it was a hell of a lot better than the truth.

They even deleted the incriminating security footage and then shot new footage which was doctored to pass as the real thing.

Their asses were covered. That kiss only cost taxpayers money, not their careers.

There was another consequence. Whatever camaraderie, whatever heat, there had been between them was stone dead. Mallory blamed Mark for not allowing a button cover, Mark blamed Mallory for _asking_ to be kissed.

No, asking wasn't the right word. Daring. That better described that light in his eye. That light had said, _why don't you shut up and kiss me you repressed ape?_ but that heat was gone now. 

Mark sometimes caught himself imagining what it would take to bring that heat back--and maybe it was congruent with all the other forces in his life, because imagining everything working out was just how Mark got from one minute to the next.

He might win Mallory over one day. Once they had boots on the moon.

**Author's Note:**

> Mallory and Naird are the second cutest pairing in the show. Captain Ali and Dr Chan are #1.
> 
> It's a great show. Am I alone here?


End file.
